United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan has completed her diplomatic term in the country and last week, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili had a farewell meeting with her. Miss Degnan’s next posting will be as a foreign policy advisor, a senior foreign policy advisor in Washington for the next two years.
In a recent interview she spoke about her three and a half years she served as an ambassador. She travelled all the regions - except Abkhazia and Tskhinvali - in the time she was posted in Georgia.
She mentioned the cooperation between the US and Georgian governments, and the schools that were renovated, clinics that were equipped, and the increase in female entrepreneurs in the mountainous areas, in Ajara and Racha, or in Svaneti, who are able to sell their products to a broader market thanks to help from USAID.
There are farmers cooperatives that have raised the quality of their hazelnuts or now selling raspberries and blueberries to the Gulf states for a much higher price and profit. All over the country Degnan claimed to have seen the evidence, the proof of a great partnership between the United States and Georgia. She claims it has made a real meaningful difference in the lives of thousands of Georgian citizens over the past 30 years.
Source: ge.usembassy.gov